World Building 1.1: The Why of Gods and Mythology

As a dungeon master there are things that I like to have control over in my campaign world and there are things that I don’t care so much about.  One of the things that I like about DnD, and 4e in particular, is that I can create a world and have complete control over the pantheon of gods and goddesses available for different people in the world to worship.  This happens to be one of the things that I care about in my campaign setting.  I am an admirer of ancient history in the real world and it appeals to me to have a pantheistic campaign setting in which the gods and goddesses and creation mythos are widely known by any common inhabitant of that world.

This is one of the things that I care about in my game for a few reasons:

1) It gives the players a feel for the world that their characters inhabit.  This is important because it gives the players something to care about and learn about and connects them to the world in a way different than the connection they get from reading/using the same pantheon in the 4e Player’s Handbook (PH) that everyone else is using.  In short, it gives them something to own in the campaign and they get a better ‘big picture’ view of the world.

2) It gives me a more intimate understanding of the ins and outs of a person in the world that decides to worship a particular deity.  Because I created the pantheon and their motivations, I have an easier time understanding what a response would be if, for example, a cleric or paladin went against the primary teachings of their god.  This is great role-playing gristle and should be used to the fullest.

3) Since 4e changed the alignment system so much, and it is a lot looser now (that is an observation, not a complaint; more on this later), I can more easily determine the behavioral requirements of a PC that is lawful good and devoted to a particular deity.  This seems similar to #2 above, and also like not too much of a big deal, but wait until you put your players into situations where they have to make difficult moral choices, and no matter what they choose, they will upset a player’s chosen deity.  Since I give ample experience points (XP) for good roleplaying, and I expect an attempt at good roleplaying at my table, my expert knowledge of the pantheon allows me to make better judgments regarding each situation.  Ultimately, the better I play my NPC priests and deities, then the better my players will roleplay their characters.

4) Honestly, creating a pantheon and creation mythos makes me feel like I own my campaign and it gets my creative juices flowing.  I usually do this as a first step anyway, but the 4e system’s idea that once a PC goes over 30th level, he ascends to the heavens and becomes a legend/god himself* works perfectly with the fact that I created my own pantheon.  What if, when our hero was in his 27th level, he pissed off the Major Deity that had the most power of all the Gods?  What would he have to do in order to regain the respect of the chief god and be allowed to enter the heavens (or wherever the gods reside in your universe)?

Now that I’ve told you the why, you are wondering about the how… Exactly how does one go about making up a creation myth and pantheon for their universe?  That will be discussed in my next blog post.

~DM Samuel

*I generally use male pronouns, except when I remeber to use female ones.  It is not intended to show bias, as there are some kick-butt female roleplayers out there.  I do try to stay consistent within one post and switch back and forth between posts.

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